Self-talk behavior

Of course, the primary purpose of getting involved in a safety intervention is to prevent injury or improve a person s quality of life. Unfortunately, we rarely see these most important consequences. Thus, we need motivation, feedback, interpersonal approval, and self-talk. We tell ourselves the safe behavior is "the right thing to do," and that someday an injury will be prevented. We cannot count the number of injuries we prevent we just need to "keep the faith."... 

Behavioral scientists, however, do not deny the existence of internal factors that motivate action. There is no doubt that we talk to ourselves before and after our behaviors, and this self-talk influences our performance. We often give ourselves internal verbal instructions, called intentions, before performing certain behaviors. After our activities, we often evaluate our performance with internal consequences. In the process, we might motivate ourselves to press on (with self-commendation) or to stop (with self-condemnation). 

This chapter is also about interpersonal conversation and coaching, but the emphasis is on brief informal communication to support safe behavior and help it become more fluent. How we talk with others (interpersonal communication) influences their attitude and ongoing behavior, and how we talk to ourselves (intrapersonal communication) influences our own behavior and attitude. Therefore, this chapter also addresses self-talk—the mental scripts we carry around in our heads before, during, and after our behaviors. 

What are love, friendship, coinage, loyalty, happiness, and forgiveness Sure, you can describe behaviors that reflect these concepts, but where is the true meaning 1 think we derive the meaning of these common words from our conversations. Think about how we "fall in or out of love" depending on how we talk to ourselves and others. Likewise, we can convince omselves we are happy through om self-talk, and this inner conversation is obviously influenced by what we hear others say about us. 

You need to keep a supportive conversation simple and to the point. Give your behavior-based praise a chance to soak in. In this fast-paced age of trying to do more with less, we try to conununicate as much as possible when we finally get in touch with a busy person. After recognizing a person s special safety effort, we are tempted to tag on a bunch of unrelated statements, even a request for additional behavior. This comes across as, "I appreciate what you ve done for safety, but 1 need more." Resist the temptation to do more th praise the good behavior you saw. If you have additional points to discuss, it is better to recormect later, after your praise has had a chance to sink in and become a part of the person s self-talk. 

By giving quality interpersonal support, we give people a script they can use to reward their own behavior. In other words, our quality recognition improves the other person s interpersonal conversation. Positive self-talk is crucial for long-term maintenance of safe behavior. In odier words, when we allow our recognition to stand alone and soak in, we give people words they can use later for self-motivation. 

Chapter 10 showed how this principle guides the development of more effective activators and Chapter 11 outlined procedures for improving the motivational power of consequences. In Chapter 9,1 introduced the concept of self-directed behavior, implying that we can provide our own activators to direct our behavior, as exemplified in Figure 20.4. Then, when we comply with a self-arranged activator, we can use positive self-talk as a motivating consequence. 

Cocaine causes profound mental stimulation, behaviorally evidenced by increased talkativeness and activity, flight of ideas, euphoria, and inflated self-esteem. Fatigue is offset and there is a reduced need for sleep. Supression of appetite also occurs. 

Aspartame (and its (D,D), (D,L), and (L,D) diastereomers) display double melting points. When recrystallized from aqueous ethanol or water, aspartame melts initially at 190°C, and then solidifies and re-melts at 246-247° C [21]. Other sources give only the 246-7°C value [5]. The explanation for this behavior is that intramolecular self-aminolysis and simultaneous demethanolation of aspartame talks place on initial melting, to yield 3-methylenecarboxyl-6-benzyl-2,5-diketopiperazine (DKP) (C12H14N2O4 = 262.26 g/mole). The latter compound has been reported to melt at 259 1.1° C [22]. 

Influence/effects not apparent or obvious Behavior nearly normal by ordinary observation Impairment detectable by special tests Mild euphoria, sociability, talkativeness Increased self-confidence decreased inhibitions Diminution of attention, judgment, and control Some sensory-motor impairment Slowed information processing Loss of efficiency in finer performance tests Emotion instability loss of critical judgment Impairment of perception, memory, and comprehension... 

When it comes to safety and health, internal consequences to support the right behavior are terribly important. Remember, external and intrinsic (natural) consequences for safe behaviors are not readily available, and we cannot expect to receive sufficient support (extra consequences) from others to sustain our proactive, safe, and healthy choices. So we need to talk to ourselves with sincere conviction to boost our intentions. We also need to give ourselves genuine self-reinforcement after we do the right thing to keep ourselves going. When we receive special external consequences from others for our efforts, we need to savor these and use them later to bolster our self-reinforcement. 

Deming nodded his head, saying, "Yes, thank you." My experiences at Deming s workshops led me to believe that such a reply from him represent sincere appreciation. Talk about consequences. I interpreted his extrinsic response as a reward and I felt good about my behavior—approaching the microphone. Plus, my self-motivation was increased further by kind words and approval I received from other workshop participants as I returned to my seat. 

My main point here is that gossip can be good—if it is positive. When we talk about the success of others in behavior-specific terms, we begin a cycle of positive communication that can support desired behavior. It also helps to build an internal script for self-motivation. We also set an example for the kind of inter- and intrapersonal conversations that increase self-esteem, empowerment, and group cohesion. As explained in Section 5 of this Handbook, these are the very person states that increase actively caring behaviors and cultivate the achievement of a Total Safety Culture. 

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